2002 Visit of  Patriarch Gregory III to the Melkite Faithful of the U.S. Planned Itinerary & Press Release  5/02
Patriarch of the cities of Antioch, Alexandria and Jerusalem, of Cilicia, Syria, Iberia, Arabia Mesopotamia, Pentapolis, Ethiopia, of all of Egypt and the entire East, Father of Fathers, Pastor of Pastors, Bishop of Bishops, the Thirteenth of the Holy Apostles

           The 2002 visit of the Patriarch was a great honor and we here present a few photos of this historic occasion and the press releases that were issued to proclaim Patriarch Gregory's visit.

 Press Release  |  April 26, 2002  |  Planned Itinerary 

               His Beatitude, Gregory III Laham, Patriarch of Antioch and of All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem will visit Boston on May 15-18.  He will preside at the celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the ordination to the priesthood of Most Rev. John A. Elya, Bishop of the Melkites in the United States. His Beatitude will preside at a Divine Liturgy at 5:00 P.M., Saturday, May 18, at Our Lady of the Annunciation Cathedral, 7 VFW Parkway in the Roslindale section of Boston.  The Liturgy will be followed by a dinner-reception, which will be combined with the celebration of Bishop Elya’s 50^th Anniversary.

               This visit to America will be the second for the Patriarch since his election as Patriarch on November 29, 2000.  He succeeded the late Patriarch Maximos V, who had resigned because of illness.  Since the Melkite Diocese of Newton covers the entire United States, the Patriarch, after leaving Boston, will travel widely to visit parishes in order to become better acquainted with his flock in this country.  In Cleveland he will address the meeting of the National Association of Diocesan Ecumenical Officers (NADEO).  In Washington, D.C., he will attend and address  the “Oriental Lumen V” Conference.  In Atlanta, Georgia, he will be welcomed to the U.S. Grand Priority meeting of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem.  He will also visit parishes in seven other cities before returning to Boston on June 12, and then leaving for the Middle East.

               His Beatitude was born in1933 in Syria, and professed his religious vows in the Basilian Salvatorian Order in 1954.  After his philosophical and theological studies in Lebanon and his ordination to the Holy Priesthood, he studied at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, and earned a Doctorate in Eastern Theology.  During the 1960s and 1970s, the then Father Laham taught and served as administrator of schools and orphanages.  In 1974 he was appointed Administrator of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and started student and family assistance programs.  He was the Founding Editor of the Middle East Ecumenical Journal, Al-Wadat (L’Unite).

               In 1981 he was ordained a bishop and he continued to minister in the Holy Land as the Melkite Patriarchal Vicar.  In addition to his direct ministry to the people of the Holy Land, His Beatitude was Chairman of the Patriarchal Liturgical Commission and also Secretary of the Patriarchal Commission for Ecumenical Affairs.  He has been responsible for the re-presentation of the extensive liturgical richness of the ancient tradition.  In his ecumenical work, he has been very active in the continuing dialogue between the two branches of the Church of Antioch, Orthodox and Catholic.

               The Melkite Greek Catholic Church is in union with Rome, while maintaining liturgy and tradition very similar to those of the Orthodox.   Her Patriarchs were prominent in the Councils of Vatican I and Vatican II for their advocacy of the ancient traditions of the first millennium, and their loyalty to Rome. The Melkite Church uses the Byzantine Liturgy, which is the same as that of the Greeks, Russians, Ukrainians, and Romanians, both Catholic and Orthodox.

               In the United States, the first appreciable immigration of Melkites began around 1890.  They were Arabic-speaking, coming from the original Melkite areas of Syria, Lebanon. Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq.  During the 20^th Century the flow increased, as a result of both religious persecutions and political and economic troubles.  Now the immigration continues, fueled by strife and unrest in the Middle East.  Presently a substantial proportion of American Melkites are not of Arabic descent, as a result of intermarriage and the attraction of Eastern liturgy and tradition.

               In the United States, the Diocese of Newton has 42 parishes and missions, from New England to California, and from Wisconsin to Florida.  Bishop John A. Elya is assisted by Auxiliary Bishop Nichols J. Samra, who is stationed in the Detroit area.  There are 62 priests and 36 deacons, besides a good number of bi-ritual priests who help also when needed.

Planned Itinerary

His Beatitude Gregory III (Laham), Melkite Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem will visit the United States from May 15 to June 13, 2002.   Besides the Headquarters of the Eparchy of Newton and the Annunciation Cathedral in Roslindale, MA, he will visit the following Melkite parishes or communities:

• St. Basil the Great in Lincoln, RI  (Unveiling of Memorial Plaque for St. Ann’s WWII Veterans)

• St. Joseph Church, Lawrence, MA, celebrating its 100^th Anniversary

• St. Basil Seminary, Methuen, MA

• St. Elias Church in Brooklyn, OH

• The Holy Resurrection in Columbus, OH. (Blessing of the new property to be remodeled into a church and rectory)

•  St. Ann in West Paterson, NJ

• St. Demetrius in Cliffside Park, NJ

• St. Ann in Danbury, CT

• St. Joseph Church, Scranton, PA, celebrating its 105^th Anniversary

• The Virgin Mary in Brooklyn, NY. Rededication of the renovated Church of the Virgin Mary on its 50^th Anniversary

• The Holy Transfiguration, McLean, VA

• St. John Chrysostom in Atlanta, GA

• And St. Ignatios of Antioch, Augusta, GA

His Beatitude will preside at the celebration of my Golden Jubilee of Priestly Ordination on May 18, 2002: Divine Liturgy at the Annunciation Cathedral in Roslindale, MA, followed by the Jubilee Banquet at the Archimandrite Lucien Malouf Auditorium of the Cathedral.

Among other activities, he will attend and address the following gathering:

• The National Association of Diocesan Ecumenical Officers (NADEO) Workshop held in Cleveland, OH on May 21;

•  The Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, CT, where His Beatitude will be conferred an Honorary Doctoral Degree on May 28;

• The Order of St. Nicholas in their Annual Gathering in Brooklyn, NY, on June 1-2 

• The “Orientale Lumen V” Conference in Washington, DC. On June 3-5.

• And the U.S. Grand Prioral meeting of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem in Atlanta, GA, on June 6-9. The Patriarch of Antioch is traditionally the Grand Protector of this international and Ecumenical Order.

• Among other activities, His Beatitude will bless the new Police Headquarters in New York City and will pay a visit to Ground Zero in Manhattan on June 1.

•  Also reception in his honor will be held at the Consulate General in New York City and at the Lebanese Embassy in Washington, DC.

 His Beatitude will leave the United States on June 13. At his Patriarchal residence in Rabweh, near Antelias, Lebanon, about 10 miles from Beirut, he will work at the final preparation of the annual Synod of the Bishops of the Patriarchal Melkite Church, which will be held at Rabweh on June 17-23, 2002.

Role of the Patriarch in the Melkite Church

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